the only Christmas album you need, some hot 2022 takes, a calendar
Hey everyone. I hope you've had a great year, and that you get a chance to listen to everyone's 2022 top-ten lists over break. I have my own 2022 thoughts, and we'll get to those in a bit, but first I want to talk about a jazz oddball, and what happened when he got a one-in-a-million chance to redefine Christmas music.
praise for cartoon music
Documentary filmmaker Lee Mendelson was early in his career when he was approached about doing something related to the history of animation. He met and interviewed Charles Schultz for a documentary, and happened to hear Vince Guaraldi's "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" on the radio. That might sound weird, that there would be a radio home for instrumental jazz, but it was kind of a pop hit, spending 18 weeks on the Hot 100 in 1962, despite the country's growing fascination with rock and roll. Guaraldi had been, up to that point, a sort-of-famous sideman, appearing in combos but never taking the spotlight. "Cast Your Fate" was his smash. But bigger things would come.
That Schultz project would not be his huge break. Mendelson got Guaraldi for the documentary, but despite his musical contributions, the show would never find a sponsor to get on television. Lee Mendelson shopped it all around town, but nobody was interested. During this time, Coca-Cola asked if Mendelson would be interested in getting an animated special on TV before Christmas 1965. Mendelson already knew Schultz, so Peanuts felt like the best fit. He kept Guaraldi on for the soundtrack, and crushed through the production in six short months.
"A Charlie Brown Christmas" shouldn't work. To play the children of Peanuts, they cast children - actual children. Non-actor children. The script delivers harsh criticism about the over-commercialization of Christmas. Schultz packed the script with decidedly un-kid-like words and phrases, and insisted that the plot turn on a quite serious reading of the Bible. And the music didn't seem to fit at all - at the very least, it would be lost on kids, who were buying up copies of "Help Me, Rhonda", "Wooly Bully", and "Ticket to Ride" as quickly as their allowance allowed.
After an early screening, everyone involved thought it was a disaster. Completed only ten days before its television debut, Mendelson remarked that it probably wouldn't have even aired if it hadn't already been promised in that time slot the next week.
And yet. Vince Guaraldi's work pulls the whole thing together, setting the tone for the comic-strip-pacing of the start, and easing the transition into more serious scenes. It matches the simple-yet-sophisticated attitude of the characters - reflecting their complexities. It's gentle and distant, and then it's emotionally overwhelming. There's times it even cuts abruptly in response to the action on the screen - not hard stops, but literally tape cutting. It's transgressive - but it gives the audience credit for being able to follow along. It provided a musical education to a huge audience that might not otherwise be exposed to 60's jazz - and it finds new fans every decade. It's just part of the musical landscape. Everyone knows Charlie Brown's music (specifically "Linus and Lucy" - which my wife and I had in our wedding, thanks to a musical director who kept it secret).
I've been researching this for a few months now, and I'd love to tell you that it's one of the best selling albums of all time. It is not. It crossed over 5 million copies in May of this year (2022), which is about a third of what Boston's "Boston" has sold (and Charlie Brown had a ten-year head start). It is, however, more than the 4 million that Miles Davis and "Kind of Blue" have notched, and five times what Herbie Hancock achieved with the first Platinum jazz record ("Head Hunters"), so it is phenomenally well-traveled for a jazz record. ("A Charlie Brown Christmas" sells particularly well on vinyl - my copy is a 2012 reissue on clear green vinyl. My copy of "Kind of Blue" is a 2010 reissue on 180-gram black vinyl, but if you came over, we'd have to listen to my copy of "Head Hunters", which is a 1973 original Pitman pressing.)
Lee Mendelson largely stuck with animation the rest of his career, and Vince provided music for fifteen Charlie Brown specials over the next eleven years. Guaraldi took his millions and played little shows in San Francisco for the pure satisfaction of it. He died in 1976 (during a performance, but in between sets) at the age of 47. Earlier that day, he had completed his work on "It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown", which I am not making up.
2022 hot takes
I am looking at everyone else's year-end lists (the ones that came out at the start of December, anyway) with some regret. It feels like I didn't listen to any 2022 music this year, but I guess there's time for that in January (once the late lists go out).
Here's some short notes on actual 2022 releases.
PLOSIVS - PLOSIVS: One way I'm judging people's 2022 lists is looking for this record. I am not finding it. It's my #1 most frequently played 2022 record, if that means anything. Rob Crow's twisted melodies against John Reis's urgent post-punk.
Pinegrove - 11:11: Pinegrove's earnest, introspective alt-country-punk has been hit-or-miss for me, but I found their January 2022 release to be really touching. It's frustrated and hopeful and unblinking and brave.
Pusha T - It's Almost Dry: I do see this on 2022 lists, which is reassuring. When I saw Pusha T in Minneapolis, he repeated several times that this was the hip-hop album of the year, no exceptions, and by the end of the show, it was hard to argue with him. (What can keep it from the Grammy? Only a certain Hitler-praising record producer who we don't talk about in this newsletter anymore.)
Momma - Household Name: I love that this females-fronted pop-rock combo is getting written about, but then people write about them as "90's revivalists", and I wish that weren't a thing I was into. I am very into it.
Preoccupations - Arrangements: Preoccupations and their experimental goth-punk can be bleak, or funny, or driving, or even a little dull. Their latest is super accessible (by their standards) but still very hard-hitting.
Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen: Sudan Archives is known for a pretty abstract brand of violin-pop, but her 2022 album was confident, intimate, fun, and funky. I think she might be capable of doing whatever she likes, and this is just what she likes right now.
The Beths - Expert in a Dying Field: These guys are huge, but they ought to be more huge. You can also judge 2022 lists by seeing where this is versus Big Thief's record. Nothing against Big Thief, but this is way more fun, just as human, and significantly shorter.
Nikki Lane - Denim and Diamonds: We knew we were in for a treat when Joshua Homme stepped in to produce this alt-country record, and while his fingerprints are all over it, Lane stands out and lets that sound magnify her voice and emotion. (The intensity of some of these songs didn't shine through until I saw her perform them last week.)
All those pop albums you liked - I liked them, too.
calendar update
I don't have a lot of plans for the icy start of 2023.
Dry Cleaning
SAT JAN 14 2023 – 8:30 PM
Fine LineYou have to hear Dry Cleaning if you haven't. They are not for everybody, but I want their spoken-word post-punk to find all the fans it deserves.
Rubblebucket
WED FEB 15 2023 – 8:00 PM
Amsterdam Bar & HallRubblebucket's brass-instrument psych-pop also has to be heard to be believed.
The Beths
WED FEB 22, 2023 - 8:00 PM
First AvenueI am pretty sure everybody likes the Beths.
Weyes Blood
TUE MAR 14 2023 – 8:00 PM
First AvenueWeyes Blood (and her trippy psych-folk) is enjoying a moment with high placement on many year-end lists.
bye! thanks! happy new year!
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